Transcript Bioassay of Two Ponds Katie Kraska Stephen Hesterberg Matt Brown Motivations for Research • Dramatic shifts in free nutrient levels • Eutrophication • Effects specific to.

Bioassay of Two Ponds
Katie Kraska
Stephen Hesterberg
Matt Brown
Motivations for Research
• Dramatic shifts in free nutrient levels
• Eutrophication
• Effects specific to our area
• Research often done on the Quarry Pond
Goals and Hypotheses
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Determine limiting nutrients in
two different systems
Environment
Landscape positioning
Different levels of human
disturbance
1. The Woodland Pond would
be P limited, N limited, or both
2. The Golf Course Pond on
would not be limited by either
P or N because of artificially
introduced chemicals and
nutrients
Methods: Study Sites
Woodland Pond
Average depth: 2.1 m, pH 7.5, N:P ratio 45:1
Leech et al. SRF Summer Research
Pond at Old Hickory Golf
Course
Methods: Experimental Design
• Filtered 500 mL
through an 11micron mesh
• 3 replicates per
treatment
• 500 µL of nutrients
added
• 5 days
Methods Continued…
• 50 mL sampled and
filtered
• GF/F filters placed in
10 mL acetone for 12
hrs
• Fluorometer used to
measure chlorophyll
in ug/L
• Kruskal-Wallis
p = 0.08, no significance
p = 0.10, no significance
Discussion
• Woodland Pond:
– Variation?
– Nitrogen
– Zooplankton
– Clumping of algae
– Light
• Golf Course Pond:
Decrease?
– Protists
– Zooplankton
– Clumping of algae
– Light
– Too many nutrients?
Further Research
• Maximum production rate
• Seasonal Variation
• Controlled experimentation on mixotrophic
protists
• Specific species present in each
References
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On the Strategy of "Eating Your Competitor": A Mathematical Analysis of Algal MixotrophyT.
Frede Thingstad, Harry Havskum, Kristine Garde and Bo RiemannEcology , Vol. 77, No. 7
(Oct., 1996), pp. 2108-2118
Rossignol, Karen L., Hans W. Paerl, John M. Fear, and Jeremy S. Braddy. "Nutrients in
Precipitation and the Phytoplankton Responses to Enrichment in Surface Waters of the
Albemarle Peninsula, NC, USA after the Establishment of a Large-scale Chicken Egg Farm."
Hydrobiologia (2010): 181-91. Print.
Hitchman, Richard B., and Harriet L. Jones. "The Role of Mixotrophic Protists in the
Population Dynamics of the Microbial Food Web in a Small Artificial Pond." Freshwater
Biology 43.2 (2000): 231-41. Print.
Koh, Kyungjoon, Greg E. Bell, and Justin Moss. "Nutrient Runoff during Natural Rainfall
Event from Golf Course Fairways." Horticulture and Landscape Architecture: Oklahoma State
University (2007). Print.